Peggy Mitchell Beauregard of Avon, an adjunct faculty member in the department of Mathematics at the University of Hartford’s College of Arts and Sciences was honored with a Gordon Clark Ramsey Award for Creative Excellence at the University’s annual Faculty/Staff Kickoff on Wednesday Aug 29. The award recognizes the exemplary contributions of the University’s adjunct and part-time faculty members and is presented for a proposed scholarly or creative project related to classroom teaching.

Having received a printmaking degree from the Hartford Art School and math degrees from the College of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University, Beauregard has been instrumental in reshaping the “Contemporary Mathematics” course, one of the most heavily enrolled courses at the University. She incorporates current events to help ease math anxiety among students who came from a variety of majors. To tap into student’s diverse interests, Beauregard created PowerPoint presentations that involve civics, music, art, and nature. She also helped to introduce the use of Student Response Systems (clickers) in class. The results have been rewarding: increased class participations and outstanding student evaluations.

Since joining the Department of Mathematics in the spring of 2008, Beauregard has made math relevant, interesting, and accessible to hundreds of students.